Lessons Learned
by Silent Seraphim
Summary: Tsukimineshrine Challenge fic for the Crossover Challenge. CCSxGW. Oneshot.


The Challenge  
  
Topic: Strange Bedfellows  
  
Genre: Not sure.  
  
Canon: Probably Alternate Universe... maybe not. I tried. ; shrugs  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Length: Too damn long. (About 1900 words or so)  
  
Special Requirements: One day, a CCS character of your choice wakes up next to . Fill in the blank with anyone you want, but this person can not be an original character or from CCS. (Edit: Yes, that means this is a crossover challenge. I meant to put that somewhere....)  
  
Time Limit: Two weeks Crossover with: Gundam Wing  
  
Disclaimer: I don't claim to own CCS or Gundam Wing, I'm just borrowing their characters and I promise to put them back where they belong when I'm done.  
  
Warnings: I fear that my characterizations are slightly off... oh well, can't say I didn't try.  
  
Lessons Learned  
  
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeep. Beeeep. Beeeeep.  
  
The irritating buzzing alarm emitting from the offending piece of transistors, plastic, metal, and silicon chips died as a hand snaked up from the haphazard lump hidden by several blankets, pillows and hair, to knock it off of the side table. The lump shifted beneath the blankets, and slithered further into the safety of the self-imposed cocoon, that is, until they bumped a stray arm into something warm.  
  
A pair of violet colored orbs flew open in alarm, and the owner recoiled and yanked the blankets off of himself, and consequently, whatever, or whomever was lying less than six inches from him on the already cramped bed. His eyes widened when he noticed that the person lying on the other side of the bed... he wasn't sure if they were male or female, because of the length of the hair they had, had a pair of very large white wings protruding from their back.  
  
Duo Maxwell blinked. "What the hell did I do last night?"  
  
For the life of him, Duo couldn't seem to remember ever leaving the safe house other than to make a trip to the convenience store for some food, since the safe house wasn't exactly equipped with any, and he'd been back long before dark. Without a companion.  
  
He rubbed at his eyes, and pinched his arm for measure, to assure himself that he wasn't still asleep.  
  
"Alright, I'm awake, although I'm beginning to doubt my sanity. Christ, leave it to me to start showing symptoms of Schizophrenia during the middle of a mission."  
  
The slightly taller figure on the other side of the bed muttered something indistinguishable, and flung an arm off to the side, and across Duo's chest, effectively latching onto the nearly yard long, slightly frayed braid of chestnut hair that happened to be the one vanity of the former gundam pilot. Duo yelped as the arm moved to drag the hair back to their side of the bed.  
  
"Oww!" He hissed, grabbing the hand. He pried the fingers off of his hair. "Damn it, that hurts! Leggo!" Duo had to scoot off of the bed to avoid becoming latched onto again, and managed to miscalculate the distance between the bed and the floor... and landed on his rear with a resounding thud.  
  
The winged man/woman, Duo still wasn't sure, sat up in wide-eyed alarm, his eyes darting around the room as he looked for the source of the sound that had woken him up. Apparently, they figured out they weren't where they were supposed to be, and realized that they didn't recognize thier surroundings.  
  
"What the..."  
  
"My sentiments exactly." Duo responded, standing up, and rubbing his now sore rear-end. "Mind giving me a short explanation as to what you're doing in my bed?"  
  
The winged man gave him a look reminiscient of a deer caught in a set of headlights. He blinked, staring at the thin, black-boxer clad pilot in confusion. Duo mirrored the expression, except adding a hint of demand to his leer. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.  
  
Jeez, normally when things like these happen in books, the winged guys are either there to dish out some sort of divine retribution for some sin, or some weird creature. They do say there's an exception to every rule... this guy must be the exception. Either that or I'm having one hell of a weird dream.  
  
The man, who was still bewildered, finally answered. "There was an accident, but it shouldn't have caused this..." He trailed off, failing to actually answer the question. Duo sighed. "That's great and all, but it would help if I actually knew what you're mumbling about."  
  
"It's not of any importance to you."  
  
Duo scowled. "You're the one who landed in my bed, pal. I'd say it's of importance. Just answer the question. I'd also like to know your name."  
  
The man sighed. "An acquaintance of a friend..." He seemed to be carefully choosing his words, Duo noticed. Something many, including myself, don't do. "Decided to play a practical joke. One he will pay for when I get my hands on him. Unfortunately, I don't remember all of what took place." the winged man snarled, his cat-slitted pupils narrowing in anger as he apparently remembered the events that had taken place. Duo snorted. "If they knocked out, and carried you in here while you were zonked out, then the alarms would've gone off. This house is wired with proximity alarms. They detect human DNA."  
  
The man turned to him with an icy expression, "I wouldn't suppose they sense magic." the tone in his voice was unmistakably cool, almost deadpan, but Duo did notice the anger hidden within that statement. Duo raised an eyebrow, "Magic, as in the whole 'parlor trick and tarot card' bit?"  
  
The man nodded, watching as Duo reached over to the small radio sitting on top of the barren dresser. "Something like that."  
  
Duo nodded, turning his attention to the small radio on the dresser. "Riiiight. My name's Duo, by the way. Duo Maxwell."  
  
"En otro noticias... Oz," Duo turned the volume up, growling as the static became worse, drowning out the foreign language broadcast. He kicked the radio once, and it decided to behave, coming in clear enough for Duo to discern what was being said.  
  
The man nodded silently, and Duo found himself musing over the strange, unknown circumstances surrounding the unnamed winged man's abrupt appearance in his bedroom. Duo honestly couldn't figure out what the man was doing there, but he had a pretty good idea that the winged guy did. He'd vaguely mentioned that there had been some sort of practical joke played on him. Maybe getting him to elaborate would jog his memory.  
  
"Hey... you wouldn't mind explaining what happened to you, would you? It'd probably help me to understand what's going on and it might jog your memory as to what happened." Duo shrugged, leaning against the wall, his slight silhouette glowing palely in the moonlight. It was still several hours before sunrise.  
  
"Aren't you afraid someone is going to hear me and come barging in, demanding an explanation?"  
  
"I'm by myself... there's not a soul around for miles, unless you count the Oz base a couple of miles from here." Duo sighed. "You're, figuratively speaking, in the middle of fucking nowhere. Besides, I have a lot more to hide than you do."  
  
"I suppose I should begin with my name..."  
  
"So... this Hiiragizawa guy... he's at fault for this?"  
  
Yue nodded. "Most likely. It's rather unsurprising that I ended up in a war torn teenager's safe house, but, it's still an annoyance that I have to figure out how I got here."  
  
"You mentioned something about walking into a room and appearing here. Would it be possible that this is the same house you were in, and you just don't recognize it because of the time difference? From what it sounds like, you walked right into a wormhole. Or rather, a area of weak flux in the time-space continuum. It's a physics theory that's never been proven."  
  
"I'm not completely unwilling to rule out that theory either." Yue sighed. "It just doesn't make sense."  
  
"Nothing in this world ever makes sense. You just learn to deal with what's thrown at you, and make the best of it. I'd say that someone did this deliberately... to test us both."  
  
"But why?" Yue asked.  
  
"Because fate's twisted and likes to toy with people." Duo sighed. "I really don't know the answer to that one myself, but it's just my theory."  
  
"It seems like they're getting along well enough."  
  
"It's not very nice of you to toy with people like this, Eriol-san." Sakura looked at the scene of her guardian and the teenaged mecha pilot talking. "Yue isn't going to appreciate this once he figures out that you're behind it."  
  
The bespectacled boy smiled good-naturedly. "I did this because Yue-san needs to learn to trust others." Eriol sighed. "He seems to be passing the test."  
  
Sakura sighed. "This still was uncalled for."  
  
"What could either of us have done, Sakura-san? Sometimes, they have to crash and burn before they can learn."  
  
"Well... it's safe to assume that you were intentionally targeted." Duo shrugged, doodling aimlessly on a piece of graphing paper. "Welcome to my world."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Simply, that someone's always looking to tan my hide, figuratively speaking. I'm thinking that someone's trying to teach you a lesson."  
  
Yue frowned. "I fail to see the point in it."  
  
"I don't. If anything, I can see that you take many things for granted. However, most people do that, so you fit in with the rest of humanity. Let me let you in on a little bit of advice. Start enjoying what you have while you have it, because by the time you realize you've been taking it for granted, whether it be love, friendship... or even life... it's normally too late. There's a saying someone told me once— yesterday's in the past, tomorrow is unknown, today is a gift, it's why they call it the present. Keep it in mind." [1]  
  
Yue was taken aback by the sudden confrontation by the teen. But Duo wasn't done. "You need to quit blaming yourself for whatever happened, and move on. Life's too short to be caught up in the past. Take it from someone who's life's only predictable for about the next hour, you need to enjoy what you have. You don't know when it'll be gone, whether it's ten minutes, ten days, ten weeks, ten years, or ten decades. You just never know."  
  
Yue glowered, but Duo was not about to be intimidated by him. "How can you judge? You don't even know what my past was like!"  
  
Duo moved faster than Yue's eyes could trace, and he didn't realize that he'd been slapped, hard, until he felt the stinging pain on his cheek. "Your past can't have been any worse than mine. You're acting like a spoiled child! I don't know who you think you are, but welcome to reality pal. You're not the only person to have ever lost something they've cared about. At some point, it happens to everyone."  
  
Yue stared in shock. He hadn't been expecting that.  
  
"... You're... right."  
  
Suddenly the room erupted with light... with Yue being the epicenter of it. Within seconds, he had disappeared altogether, and Duo smirked, rubbing his hands together.  
  
"He'd better put that advice to good use... or I'll somehow come back and haunt him, one way or another."  
  
Sakura and Eriol had to shield their faces as the room erupted with a very harsh, white light. Yue appeared, with a scowl on his face.  
  
"I knew you had something to do with this, Hiiragizawa."  
  
Eriol only shrugged. "Did you learn something?"  
  
Yue stared at the re-incarnation of his former master with a confused look. "What?"  
  
"Did you learn something. Or was this just a waste of my time?"  
  
"In fact, I did." Yue gave him a patented look.  
  
"Really?"  
  
Yue reached over to the couch, and grabbed a throw pillow, and tossed it at Eriol's head, hitting him.  
  
"I learned that I shouldn't take things for granted. Just thought you would like to know that."  
  
[1] Reference to my English Teacher's favorite saying. 


End file.
